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2008-2009: Gucci Mane post compilation

So Passion of the Weiss just dropped a list of the 15 best internet lists, a nice little feature, and linked to our post of Top 50 Gucci Mane Songs of 2008, which was appreciated. I made this note in the comments section on PotW’s site, and decided I should make mention of it over here as well, on the off-chance that we’re writing to two completely different audiences, but the only major omission from their list is Dylan King, who used to blog over at governmentnames, back before it became a Baltimore hip-hop blog, when it was one of the earliest blogs to write generally about rap music. The first list was Dylan’s Top 15 Grills (2005 Edition), and the 2nd was almost as important: the Top 30 Bun-B Features of 2004.

Not only was the latter list linked by the New York Times, but it became the inspiration for the initial list we did of Gucci’s Top 30 songs of 2008. Once it seemed like Gucci was destroying every guest verse he recorded, it seemed evident he was following Bun’s formula — identified by Dylan four years previous — of getting on any track he could and wrecking it. What Gucci added to the formula, of course, was recording tons of full songs, too; he wasn’t just the rapper, but a songwriter. He came up with the hooks & slight variations for each song concept (“gorgeous”! “wonderful”! “wasted”!), which allowed him the freedom to record so many unique tracks; he could flood the market with full-on songs, without running out of ideas. As a result, we shifted the list to cover songs rather than verses.*

At any rate, when we switched to wordpress, a bunch of the original URLs were messed up, so I figured we’d just link to all the major Gucci list content on one post, now that it’s been approximately three years since it seemed like the only discussion of his work existed on facebook fan pages. While there are definitely some song choices I would swap in and out from this list, I think the overarching arguments Jordan & I made about his work stand up under scrutiny today.

*You would have to ask him for confirmation, but if I were a gambling man, I’d guess that Sean Fennessy’s list of 77 Lil Wayne verses for Vibe was also inspired by Dylan’s initial post for governmentnames.